Star Trek Infinite:1x01 Barrier
by Mattlincoln524
Summary: When an unknown enemy attacks the Federation, Captain Jacob Fallon and the crew of the Infinite cross the Great Barrier to investigate. Set 20 years after nemesis.
1. An Unknown Enemy

STAR TREK: INFINITE

EPISODE ONE: BARRIER

CHAPTER ONE: AN UNKNOWN ENEMY

Commander Jacob Fallon awoke to a familiar chime. Opening his eyes he ran his hand over his face and sighed. The formations of wrinkles were all too apparent by his touch. Removing the covers he got to his feet. "Computer, Lights." The room became illuminated causing the Commander to squint. He rubbed his eyes and moved towards the door. When he was younger he was able to get out of bed with countless amounts of energy but now he needed a cup of coffee before he was fully awake. "Enter." He said as the doors quickly slid opening revealing a young girl of about sixteen. Jacob was startled but not unhappy to see his daughter. She looked so much like her mother that every time he looked at her it was yet another painful reminder of just what he had lost.

The young girl walked into her father's quarters smiling at him. She pushed a strand of brown hair behind her ear as she walked up to the replicator. "Coffee, black." Within seconds a cup of coffee appeared and she presented it to her father. Jacob took a refreshing sip of the liquid and set the cup down. "I thought I wasn't meeting you until 0800?" He said giving his daughter a quizzical look. Jessica Fallon laughed. "What's so funny?" Her father wondered. "0800 was four hours ago." Jacob frowned worried that he had let his daughter down. "I overslept." He said sitting back down on his bed.

Jessica approached him and sat down beside him. "It's ok, I know you don't get a day off that often so I thought I'd let you get some sleep." Jacob took a long drink of coffee then carefully sat the cup back down. He sighed then fell backwards on the bed and looked up at his daughter. "What did I do to deserve a daughter like you?" Jessica Fallon arose from the bed and offered her father a helping hand. "I'm still wondering that myself!" She said helping him to his feet. "So big day, are you excited?" Jessica didn't respond at first and Jacob could see her expression sadden. "Yeah I am, I just wish Mom were here." Jacob embraced his daughter like any loving father would. "Remember your Mother will always be with you no matter where you go." He then tenderly kissed her on her forehead. Quickly he rolled over his bed to the other side of the room and removed a wrapped present from his desk drawer.

"Speaking of where you're going, I was going to wait until later to give you this but now's a better time." He said handing the gift to his daughter. She took it from him and excitedly opened it. A data pad with a Starfleet logo on the front greeted her. Jessica stood with her mouth opened as if she couldn't believe her eyes. "Is this what I think it is?" She progressed the text on the pad forward and read silently to herself. Suddenly her eyes went wide. "I got in! I can't believe it." She was practically jumping up and down with excitement. Jacob stared at his daughter with pride and for once felt like a good father. After his wife had died it had been hard on Jessica. They had a much closer relationship then he did with his daughter. His life in Starfleet always seemed to get in the way of family but lately things had been getting better. He had decided to make more time for Jessica and to strive for a balance between work and family.

"Since you won't be starting until the fall, I talked to the Captain and he's made you an acting ensign." As Jacob finished the sentence Jessica's eyes got even wider. "This is the best day ever! Thanks, Dad!" Jacob walked over to a wall compartment to pull out some clothing. "No problem, now if I'm right don't we have Holodeck Two reserved all day. We're hiking to the top of the Valla mountains on the planet Ashtar, it has the most beautiful sunset." A few minutes later Jacob had changed and was ready to head out the door. Suddenly his comm badge chirped. _"Commander Fallon to the bridge." _Of all the days for the Captain to call on him. Tapping his badge he responded: "Captain, This is Fallon." A few seconds later the captain replied: _"Sorry Jacob, I know it's your daughter's big day but I could use you up here now."_ Jacob looked at his daughter and could see her disappointment. Jessica nodded her head towards the door. "Go, its fine we can do it another time." "I'm sorry sweetheart." Jacob was tired of those words. He had said them to many times. As he walked out the door of his quarters he turned back to his daughter and smiled. "By the way, Happy Birthday Kiddo."

The bridge was in a state of yellow alert and one look at the view screen told Jacob why. A Romulan Warbird floated gracefully in front of them. Jacob took his seat beside Captain Lockridge. The Dante's first officer had known the Captain for years. He was actually one of Jacob's first teachers at the academy. The years had not been kind to Carl Lockridge. His face had been weathered by the ravages of time. Jacob knew he only had a few more years left in him as Captain. Part of him became excited by the thought meaning that he would take his place. Another part of him cringed at not seeing Lockridge sitting in the Captain's chair.

"A Romulan Warbird this far into federation space?" _It's a damn fine time for The Romulans to start breaking treaties_, Fallon thought. The Klingons were just looking for a reason for war and lately relations between the two species were extremely poor. "I know, we came here answering a distress call from a Denobulan freighter and found Romulans instead." Lockridge leaned forward never taking his gaze away from the view screen. "Any sign of the freighter?" Jacob asked hoping for good news. Ensign Wallace turned from her console at the front of the bridge to respond. "Only debris sir. There's something I can't explain though. The Warbird has no power readings what so ever, I'm also not reading any life signs aboard.

The Captain took control and tried to size up the situation. "Have the Romulans suffered any damage?" The ensign touched a few more buttons on her console and a few seconds later replied. "No sir, it's just adrift." Suddenly a green light emanated from the head of the vessel and moved over the bridge. The Captain moved to his feet as a response. "What the hell is happening?" "I think we're being scanned sir but I'm still reading no power." The green light soon dispersed and Lockridge returned to his seat. "Ensign Haloway put some distance between us and the Romulans." The U.S.S. Dante slid silently backwards through the stars as the Warbird remained motionless.

Jacob's first instinct was to board the Warbird. At least then they might learn something about what had happened. He leaned over the arm of his chair and furrowed his brow. "Captain?" Lockridge relaxed his shoulders and gave Jacob a small smile. "Damn Peculiar. Every fiber of my being is telling me we need to leave right now. But I know I wouldn't hear the end of it from Starfleet if we didn't see this through." Jacob knew he was right they needed to find out what was going on here. Was this some new Romulan design or strategy? Jacob was broken from his thoughts as the ship trembled. "Report!" Captain Lockridge yelled.

"Something hit our shields but they are holding. No damage to the hull." Tactical officer Eli West reported. "Define Something, Lieutenant?" The captain turned with a piercing glance. "Unknown, Sir." West responded as the ship was jolted for a second time. "Shields are down to ninety percent." Jacob brought his attention back to the Warbird. "I think it's the Warbird sir its mass has decreased ten percent in the past minute. I think we're being pelted with debris." "Move us to a safe distance." The Captain ordered as the ship moved out of the path of the fragments.

As if on cue the Warbird turned to face them and then broke in to pieces. Jacob could see thousands of shards moving at an incredible speed towards the Dante. "Everyone, Brace for impact!" The first few hundred splinters depleted the shields, the rest were able to penetrate the hull. Jacob felt himself slam down to the floor as the ship violently quivered then he blacked out. The bridge was alive with fire at least that was all Jacob could see. He guessed he had only been out for a few minutes but he knew those were minutes wasted. Getting to his feet a surge of pain hit his gut alerting him to the fact that a few of his ribs were broken. Looking to his left he saw the body of Captain Lockridge. Half of his face was burned and a fresh pool of blood was developing under his head. First Officer Fallon moved over to his fallen captain and checked his pulse. There was nothing, the Captain was dead.

"Status Report!" The order went unanswered for almost a minute until Lieutenant Eli West retorted. "Shields are down, major hull damage on decks 9 through 23. Most systems are offline; we're running now with life support on minimum." Jacob looked back towards Eli. They started at the Academy the same year and soon became best of friends. Their friends would say they could finish each other sentences. The truth was they knew how each other thought and in this moment both men knew what the other was thinking; they were going to die.


	2. The Destruction of the Dante

STAR TREK: INFINITE

EPISODE ONE: BARRIER

CHAPTER TWO: THE DESCRUCTION OF THE DANTE

_20 Minutes before the Destruction of the Dante…._

Dr. Samantha Hayes could not focus on the patient files in front of her. Her thoughts kept coming back to her Husband who was on Earth. It had been two months since the last time they had seen each other in person and a week since they had last spoke. The fact that they were both doctors kept the couple busy and left little time for each other. If there was one thing she hated about being in Starfleet it was the lack of time to start a family, which was something she wanted dearly. As the door to Sickbay slid open she was torn from her thoughts and rose from her desk. Jessica Fallon greeted her at the door to her office. The look on the young girl's face had her concerned.

"I thought you were going to be spending the day with your father?" Hayes asked. Jessica gave the doctor a sad smile and replied "So did I." Dr. Hayes set down a datapad and walked towards the young girl. "Let me guess, he got called away?" Hayes asked putting her hand on Jessica's shoulder. "Same excuse as always." Jessica said pulling away from the doctor. "You know you're father loves you." Jessica turned back towards Hayes and folded her arms across her chest. "I know it's just sometimes I wish we could have a normal family."

Dr. Hayes sighed and shook her head. "That's the price you pay for being in Starfleet." Hayes said before she saw the look in Jessica's eyes. "I got early admission into the Academy, The Captain's going to make me an acting ensign. " The Doctor's eyes lit up as she hugged the young girl. "That's great I'm so proud of you." She paused for a moment then continued. "About what I said before I'm sure you and your father can make things work you just need to talk to him." Suddenly the ship shook with turbulence knocking the two women to the floor. Getting back to her feet Dr. Hayes ran to the window to try and see what was going on and saw multiple green shards coming directly towards her.

Looking behind her she yelled at Jessica to get back as the shards cut through the failing shield and exploded into sickbay. Pain was all Hayes could feel when she woke. She could see that the explosion had blown out the ceiling and had sent steel reinforcements down into sickbay. Trying to move a huge jolt of froze her into place. Glance over at each arm she could tell two reinforcements and pinned her down on either side. Abruptly the sounds around her began to emerge from the silence and she could hear Jessica. The young girl was trying to free her to no avail. Another sound began to make itself known to the doctor, an inconsistent buzzing. It was the sound of an emergency force field, the only thing protecting the two women from the coldness of space, failing.

"Jessica you have to get out now! I don't know how much longer the force field will last. Tell my husband I love him." Dr. Hayes said as she started getting lightheaded. "I'm not leaving you!" Jessica said tears running down her face. "Go Now!" The last thing Dr. Hayes saw before she blacked out was Jessica running out the door and then only darkness.

Smoke billowed around the bridge as Tactical Officer Eli West studied the scene in front of him. Numerous bodies litter the floor illuminated by the fire from burnt out consoles. Some of them were his friends and some were people he had only had a few brief conversations with. Now he would never be able to talk to any of them again. The new Captain had already checked to see if anyone else was still alive and was now trying to get in contact with sickbay and engineering. "Dammit West, why is no one responding?" Fallon yelled. West glance down at his console then back to the Captain. "Internal coms are down but internal sensors are still functioning." West said wiping blood from his brow. The Captain then walked around to the back of the bridge beside Eli. "Good, can you detect the status of the warp core?" Eli punched a few more controls and then responded. "It's stable for now but the pressure in the cooling tanks is rising, if we don't lower it soon we're looking at the possibility of a breach!"

Eli looked his friend in the eyes and saw he was making a tough decision. A few seconds later the Captain called on the Computer. "Begin Evacuation procedures, Fallon, Gamma 9218." After issuing the command the computer made a ship wide announcement to evacuate. Jacob turned back towards Eli. "How long until the cooling tank ruptures?" Eli looked at him and hesitated to speak. "How Long?" Jacob shouted. "Ten minutes, fifteen at the most." Eli quickly said. Jacob then turned towards the turbo lift doors but they did not open. "The Turbo Lifts are offline sir, even if we could pry the doors open and climb down it would take at least a half an hour to get to engineering." Eli watched as Jacob slammed his fists against the doors of the turbo lift. "It's possible I could transport you there." Eli said with trepidation and he could see his friend's face fill with hope. "I thought the transporters were down?" Fallon said thinking it was too good to be true. "The ones on the ship are sir but I think I may be able to tap into the transporters on one of the shuttles." Eli answered waiting to hear his orders. "Alright beam me to engineering and get yourself to the lower decks. Find my daughter and keep her safe. Escort anyone who missed an escape pod to the shuttle bay." Eli saw his friends' stern look soften. "If I don't make it look after her." Eli slowly nodded and began preparations to transport the Captain. "One thing I've always known about you sir is that you always make it." Eli remarked seeing a slight grin form on Jacob's face. As he initiated the transport Jacob wished him luck. Little did he know those would be the last words his friend would speak to him.

Jacob saw the world disappear and then reform around him. The engine room didn't look nearly as bad as the bridge but the damage was extensive. Looking around he could see a few burned out consoles and numerous debris littering the floor. He picked up a tricorder from the ground and began to scan the status of the core. There was luckily still time to look for survivors. Yelling out he received a few moans in response. One of those moans led him to Chief Engineer Kelsin who had been trapped under a fallen support beam. He tried to lift the beam but it was too heavy for him. "Don't worry about me, you have to stop the warp core from breaching." Kelsin said with a heavy labored breath. "I promise I'll get you out of here after I get this under control." Jacob then went to the console to the left-hand side of the warp core and began to input commands so he could see the current coolant levels. "Dammit!" He muttered to himself realizing he had little time.

He knew he only had one option left; the core had to be ejected. Running to another console he began the procedure for ejecting the core. It probably wouldn't save the ship but at least it would put some space between the exploding core and the escape pods. He entered in his command code and pushed the final button to execute. "Unable to comply, Ejection system has been damaged." The computer said in a stale feminine voice. "No! Come on!" Jacob screamed. An alert suddenly sounded and lights began to flash. "Warp core breach in six minutes." Jacob had to get to the shuttle bay as quickly as possible. He turned towards the injured chief engineer. "I'm sorry, I truly am." He said and then ran as fast as he could.

Eli West had already rounded up a few dozen crewman and had directed them to the shuttle bay but he still hadn't found the Captain's daughter. Turning the corner towards sickbay he saw a stunned Jessica Fallon sitting by the door crying. "Ms. Fallon we have to get to the shuttle bay your father is meeting us there." He said with alarm. She stared up and him. "She's gone, Dr. Hayes, she was blown out into space." Eli grabbed her hand. "I'm sorry but we have to go." He said as they both started towards the shuttle bay.

_Warp Core Breach in 4 minutes…_

When Jacob got to the shuttle bay he noticed that several shuttles had already left but he did see one left. Boarding the ship he saw Counselor Jefferies at the helm. "Captain? You made it just in time I was about to leave." Jacob stared at him with a stern look. "We're not leaving until my daughter is on board! Jacob yelled. "Sir if we don't leave in the next minute we're going to be caught in the warp core explosion. " Jefferies explained. "We wait for my daughter, that's an order!" He commanded. He then heard a banging from the hangar door. Walking out of the shuttle he could see his daughter's face through the glass window of the door. Running back inside he ordered Jefferies to open the hangar door. The counselor looked at him ashamed of what he had done. "I'm sorry sir there is no time, I've started depressurizing the hangar bay." "You son of a bitch! That's my daughter out there!" Jacob yelled at the top of his lungs as he saw the shuttle door close shut behind him. Then he felt a hypospray touch his neck causing him to pass out. A few minutes later the Dante exploded.


	3. Three Years Later

STAR TREK: INFINITE

EPISODE ONE: BARRIER

CHAPTER THREE: THREE YEARS LATER

The people of San Francisco began to get smaller as Jacob rode the turbolift up to Admiral Moore's office. He loved this city; though he was a Virginia native, he had moved here when he was accepted to the academy and fell in love. The city was a great constant in his life, no matter who he lost he could always come home and find comfort, at least he had thought that. Now it did little to comfort his aching heart. After 3 years the destruction of the Dante still weighed heavily on him. Not a day went by when he didn't think about the men and women who were killed because of an unknown enemy. That's what ate at him, all of that death and destruction and he still didn't know why.

The turbolift doors opened and Jacob stepped out onto the 64th floor and approached a receptionist. Without saying a word she stood and beckoned him to follow. He obliged her and followed the young woman into a small room with a table and two chairs. Jacob turned around just in time for the door to slide shut in front of him. Beating his fists on the door didn't seem to help so he relented and took a seat at the table. A woman with long black hair materialized at the seat opposite him. A realization hit him, she was a counselor.

"Am I not what you were expecting, Mr. Fallon?" She said with a smile.

Jacob scoffed at her question and looked her in the eye. "I was expecting to speak with Admiral Moore."

The counselor's smile faded and she looked apologetic. "I'm Counselor Rachael Barrows, I'm here to…"

"Access my mental state, to make sure I'm fit for command. I should have known this would happen." Jacob said cutting off Barrows.

"Can you really blame them, Mr. Fallon? In the past six years you not only lost your first command but also your wife and daughter. It's understandable Starfleet would be cautious."

"Call me Jacob. Mr. Fallon is my father and I'm not that old yet." Jacob said trying to break the tension.

"Alright Jacob, so tell me why you want your command back." She said sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms.

"I've been grounded for the past three years and all I thought about during that time was getting back up there."

"When you returned to earth after the attack on the Dante you saw a counselor, do you remember what you were diagnosed with?"

"Post-Traumatic Stress and Depression." Jacob said in almost a whisper.

"So what's changed? Between then and now?"

"Let's just say I learned to stop dwelling in the past and to look forward." Jacob said as he noticed Barrows glancing to the wall on her left.

"Tell me about your marriage?" Barrows asked inquisitively.

"This has nothing to do with my wife and I would prefer you leave her out of this!" Jacob said with much more strength than he had intended.

"She has everything to do with it. Her death shaped you, the same with your daughter. You are a different man today because they died." Barrows argued.

"Yes they're dead, my family is dead and talking about it won't bring them back!" Jacob screamed.

"No but it may bring you back." Barrows countered and stood from her chair. "I have one last question for you, why do you want your command back, the real reason this time?" Barrows asked.

"Because it's all I have left." Jacob said defeated.

Barrows glanced once again at the left wall then walked out the door behind her. Turning to her right a door slid open in front of her revealing an observation room. A tall slim man in white admirals uniform stood watching Jacob through a transparent wall. His eyes then met hers.

"He's not ready is he?" Admiral Moore asked the Counselor.

"No Admiral he's not. He's consumed with guilt not just for what happened to his family but for what happened to the Dante's crew. He only wants to be back in Starfleet to have at least one thing familiar to him in his life. And if he has then he can be whole again."

"What do you recommend Counselor?" Admiral Moore asked.

"He needs to see someone on a regular basis and maybe in time he'll get his command back. I'm just afraid that he would not be able to deal with the pressures of command in his current state."

"In your report to Starfleet I want you to clear him." Moore said in a steady voice.

"I'm sorry sir? Did you just hear what I said?"

"I did and I want you to tell Starfleet that he is fit for duty." Moore said raising his voice.

"Are you telling me to lie, Admiral?" Barrows could not believe what she was hearing.

"No Counselor, I'm ordering you to."


End file.
